Paladin Guide: Basics - Playing a Paladin - Equipment - Quests - Trainers
Spells and Talents - Paladin Forums & Community

Sub-Spec Guides: Tankadin, Healadin (Pre 3.0.2), Retadin (Pre 3.0.2)

Paladin spells are broken up into three different schools of magic. Holy spells are generally beneficial to the Paladin or party, Retribution generally cause damage, and Protection tries to prevent damage or to cause threat. All three schools of spells are broken down below.

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Blessing of Wisdom / Greater Blessing of Wisdom: Places a blessing on the target (for Blessing) or all players of that class in the party or raid (for Greater Blessing) that restores an amount of mana every 5 seconds. A player may only be under the effect of 1 blessing per Paladin. Blessings last 10 minutes, Greater Blessings last 60 minutes but require a reagent.

Cleanse: This is a Paladin's method of removing poison, disease and magic effects off of themselves or friendly targets. It is extremely useful and should be on every Paladins toolbar.

Concentration Aura: Allows all party or raid members within 35 yards to lose 35% less casting of channeling time when damaged. This is a great aura to use if there is a lot of AOE, splash or random damage and you are in a group with casters.

Consecration: This spell causes the land underneath and around the Paladin to cause holy damage to all enemies for 8 seconds. It is a critical AoE tanking ability for Paladins, and can cause significant amounts of damage when you collect a large group of enemies in it. It is fairly expensive mana wise though and you need to be cautious or you will burn through all your mana when using it.

Divine Plea: Grants you 25% of your mana over 15 seconds on a fairly short 2 minute cooldown. While regaining mana though your healing power is slightly reduced. Used properly and with some spell casting moderation, this allows a Paladin Healer to heal for a great length of time.

Exorcism: This instant blasts any demon or undead with holy damage. It is also great for pulling these types of creatures when tanking as you can single pull them from distance.

Flash of Light: This is a Paladins main heal, it is fast with a 1.5 second cast time and extremely mana efficient at only 7% of your base mana. At level 80 it heals up to 879 health base. This is the heal of choice for most Paladins, as many times you can not afford the 2.5 second cast time of Holy Light.

Holy Light: Heals a friendly target for a significant amount, up to 5444 base at level 80. This is your longer casting time spell that makes up a significant portion of your Tank healing, but a smaller portion of your normal healing. Because of its long 2.5 second cast time many players prefer to only use it when they really need it, otherwise they stick with flash heal.

Holy Shock: This is a dual purpose spell for Paladins, it either heals the target if they are friendly, or causes damage if they are not. It is an instant cast spell that is fairly mana intensive but can do up to 2599 damage base or heal up to 1400 base at level 80. Many Paladins find it extremely useful as both a last minute save for healing or as a finisher in combat.

Holy Wrath: Unleashes a volley of holy bolts all around the Paladin causing damage to all undead or demonic targets within 10 yards. It also stuns them for 3 seconds. This is very useful when fighting these types of targets as it allows you to cause additional damage and stun the enemy all at once.

Lay on Hands: This is a massive heal that heals up to an amount equal to the Paladin's maximum health. It also restores a small amount of mana, and is an instant cast. This is one of the "last resort" type abilities that a Paladin has. It allows them to save themselves or another play from death if cast at the last second. The only downside to this spell is it's extremely long cooldown, of 20 minutes, so use it carefully.

Light's Beacon: Allows you to select the a friendly target to become a Beacon of Light, all healing done to players within 40 yards will also heal the beacon of light. This is a great ability as it allows healers to heal multiple targets while still keeping the beacon of light target alive. This is often used in groups on the tank to allow the paladin healer to never stop healing the tank, yet still keep up other party members.

Purify: This is a lower level version of cleans and once cleanse is learned will almost never be used. It removes a disease and a poison effect from the target player.

Sacred Shield: Each time the target takes damage, they gain a Sacred Shield that absorbs some damage. It also increases the Paladin's chance to critically hit the target with Flash of Light by 50% for a short time. The Shield lasts 30 seconds. This is a great damage reduction spell for Paladin healers.

Seal of Righteousness: This seal allows each melee attack to cause additional Holy damage to the target. This is one of the Paladins basic attack spells as it allows them to cause additional damage with every hit. It also allows them judge the seal on a target to cause additional holy damage.

Seal of Light: This seal allows each melee attack a chance to heal the paladin for a small amount. When it is judged onto an enemy it causes holy damage. This is a great seal to use when you are soloing and need a little health back during a fight.

Seal of Wisdom: This seal allows each melee attack a chance to restore some mana to the paladin. When it is judged onto an enemy it causes holy damage. This is a great seal to use when you find yourself falling low in mana during a fight.

Redemption: This spell brings a dead ally back to life with a little mana and health. It can only be used while out of combat. This spell helps recover your group if something goes wrong and a party member dies.

Turn Evil: This forces an undead or demonic target to flee from the Paladin for a short time. Can be very useful in certain situations, however as with any fear you must be careful with its use or you will end up in even more trouble.

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Avenging Wrath: This ability increases all damage and healing that you do by 20% for the next 20 seconds. This is used as a threat increase by protection paladins, a damage increase by retribution paladins and a healing increase by holy paladins. This ability should be used often to make the most out of it, yet many players rarely use it.

Blessing of Might / Greater Blessing of Might: Places a blessing on the target (for Blessing) or all players of that class in the party or raid (for Greater Blessing) that grants additional attack power. A player may only be under the effect of 1 blessing per Paladin. Blessings last 10 minutes, Greater Blessings last 60 minutes but require a reagent.

Crusader Aura: This aura speeds up all mounted party members within 30 yards by 20%. It does not stack with other movement increasing effects though. This should be used at all times when traveling by mount so that you can get there faster.

Crusader Strike: This is an instant strike that causes holy damage to the target. It is one of the key attacks that a Retribution Paladin uses in his rotation. It does a great deal of damage, and since it is holy enemies do not have a resistance to it.

Divine Storm: This instant attack causes holy damage to up to 4 enemies within 8 yards. It also heals up to 3 party or raid members for up to 20% of the damage caused. This is another of the Retribution Paladins standard attacks and is used to both cause damage and provide some light healing to themselves and their group.

Hammer of Wrath: Hurls a hammer at the target causing holy damage. This is only usable while the target is at or below 20% health. This is a spell that does a lot of damage when you need it, when the target is at low health. It is used to finish off enemies in PvE and PvP.

Judgement of Justice: This Judgement unleashes the power of a seal on the target and prevents the target from fleeing and limiting their movement speed for 20 seconds. This judgement is often used in PvP to prevent a player from using speed boosting abilities to get away. It is also used in PvE combat when an enemy fleeing could cause issues.

Judgement of Light: This Judgment unleashes the power of a seal on the target and judges them for 20 seconds. During that time melee attacks made against the target have a chance to heal the attacker for a small amount.

Judgement of Wisdom: This Judgment unleashes the power of a seal on the target and judges them for 20 seconds. During that time attacks and spells used against the target have a chance to restore a small amount of mana to the attacker.

Repentance: This spell puts the target into a state of meditation for up to 60 seconds. Any damage caused against the target will awaken them. Can be used against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead. This is the retribution Paladins crowd control, and while fairly reliable and long, it can only be cast every minute.

Retribution Aura: This aura causes holy damage back to any enemy that strikes a player in your group. This allows paladins to cause some damage back to attackers and works very well when AOE grinding. Retribution spec Paladins can gain several buffs to this ability and therefore use it heavily.

Seal of Blood: This seal causes bonus holy damage to the target but inflicts 10% of that damage back onto the paladin. When judged on a target it causes even more holy damage but deals 33% of that back onto the Paladin. This is a very high damage seal, however since it also causes you damage it can be tricky to use, so be careful with it.

Seal of Vengeance: This is one of the more complicated seals as it does not do damage when it hits, instead it applies a debuff to the target that causes holy damage over the next 15 seconds. The debuff can be stacked up to 5 times on a target. When the seal is unleashed using a judgement, it causes holy damage that is increased for every stack of the seal on the target. This seal is the tanking Paladins seal of choice as it causes the most holy damage and therefore the most threat.

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Avenger's Shield: Hurls a shield at the enemy inflicting holy damage and bouncing to up to two nearby enemies. It also dazes all targets hit for a short time. This ability is the normal way that most Paladin tanks pull targets as it allows them to start with a large head start on threat.

Blessing of Kings/ Greater Blessing of Kings: Places a blessing on the target (for Blessing) or all players of that class in the party or raid (for Greater Blessing) that grants up to a 10% boost to all stats. A player may only be under the effect of 1 blessing per Paladin. Blessings last 10 minutes, Greater Blessings last 60 minutes but require a reagent. This is a Blessing that others feel every Paladin should have. A 10% boost to all stats is one of the best buffs in the game.

Blessing of Sanctuary/ Greater Blessing of Sanctuary: Places a blessing on the target (for Blessing) or all players of that class in the party or raid (for Greater Blessing) that reduces all damage taken by 3% and when that target blocks, parries of dodges an attack they gain 10 rage, 20 runic power, or 2% of maximum mana. A player may only be under the effect of 1 blessing per Paladin. Blessings last 10 minutes, Greater Blessings last 60 minutes but require a reagent. This is a Blessing that many tanks will come to rely on, especially when over geared for an instance. It allows you to regain a significant amount of mana during normal blocking of attacks.

Divine Intervention: This is a Paladins wipe protection for a group. They sacrifice themselves to protect a player and remove them from combat for up to 3 minutes. While protected that player can do nothing, they can click the DI off as soon as they are safe. This is a critical ability for the Paladin to learn to use correctly, as it can save a lot of time getting back to your place in an instance, yet it is an ability that not many players learn to use.

Devotion Aura: This aura provides the Paladin and players around them extra armour. This helps mitigate some incoming damage, although the amount of armour is relatively low it does help, and with talents can provide some additional healing help. It is the aura that most tanking paladins use.

Divine Protection: This works in a similar way to a warriors Shield Wall, it reduces all damage taken by 50% for up to 12 seconds, but lengthens the time between your attacks. This is one of the Paladin Tanking abilities that allows you to survive large amounts of burst damage when something is going wrong. It is best used in fights that have interrupts to healers or when healers need to reposition. It can also be used as a last second save on boss fights where you miss an enrage time but have the boss down to 1 or 2%.

Hand of Freedom: This spell grants immunity to movement impairing effects for up to 10 seconds. It is very useful in fights where you or a party member are slowed and need to move someplace. It is even more useful in PvP fights when you are trapped or slowed and the opponent is getting away from you.

Hand of Protection: This spell protects a party member from all physical damage for a short time (up to 10 seconds). This is used to save players that draw aggro away from you when tanking. It is often used as a backup taunt by tanks, hoping that it is just the one player that passed you on threat.

Hammer of Justice: Stuns the target for up to 6 seconds. This is used for many different things by a Paladin, it can be used to stop a spell cast, stop incoming attacks, or stop an opponent from running. It is especially useful in PvP where any time you can do any of those things to an enemy it gives you an advantage.

Hand of Sacrifice: This ability transfers up to 30% of all damage that hits the target, to the paladin for the next 12 seconds. This is another way that a Paladin can attempt to save a friendly target that has gotten into trouble.

Hand of Salvation: This spell reduces threat on the target by 2% every second for 10 seconds. This is used by Paladins that need to lower another players threat quickly. It can allow the top DPS player in a group to push that little extra bit without pulling aggro from the tank.

Hammer of the Righteous: This is a melee attack that his your current target and 2 additional nearby targets for a large amount of holy damage, based on the damage of your weapon. This ability is one of the main ways that a Paladin builds and keeps threat on their targets. Combined with Consecration, this is what makes a Paladin the best AoE tank in the game.

Holy Shield: When cast this spell raises your chance to block by 30% and grants you charges that inflict damage back onto the attacker whenever you block an attack. This allows a Paladin to continue to gain threat on multiple targets even when not directly attacking them. It also provides a big boost in damage mitigation since you will be blocking many more incoming attacks.

Resistance Auras: A Paladin has several different resistance auras that can be used. They grant resistance to different forms of damage to the paladin and all party or raid members that are within 30 yards. A Paladin has Shadow, Fire, and Frost resistance auras that they can use.

Righteous Defence: This is an AoE taunt that forces up to 3 enemies that are attacking your friendly target to switch to attacking you. This allows Paladin tanks to grab enemies back to them that some other player pulled. It is also used when trading threat on many boss fights.

Righteous Fury: This is a tanking Paladins extra threat ability and should be up at all times when attempting to tank. It causes all holy spells to generate an additional 90% threat. This is a huge amount, and you should be careful to not have it up at any point, other than when tanking.

Spiritual Attunement: This is a passive ability that grants mana back to the paladin based on the amount they are healed. It grants up to 10% of healing back as mana, not counting over healing. This is the ability that allows Paladins to have full mana bars while tanking, even when they continually cast spells.